This invention relates to communication networks. More particularly, the present invention provides a technique, including a method and system, for loop-back and continue in a packet-based network. Specifically, the present invention provides a tool for fault diagnostics and fault isolation in a packet-based network. As merely an example, the present invention is implemented as a data driven and data dependent diagnostic tool; however, it would be recognized that the present invention has a much broader range of applicability.
Communication network systems can be traced back for many years. The development of communication techniques has been an important aspect for the development of human civilization. Thousands of years ago, people developed schemes for using relayed smoke signals to communicate information over long distances. In the past two hundred years with the advent of industrial revolution, numerous techniques have been developed to communicate information using electrical energy. For example, in a communication technique known as telegraph, information is communicated over long distances in a form of electrical “dots” or “pulses”. Over the years, telephone, which allows two or more people to “talk” to each other over long distances, has developed and gradually replaced the telegraph.
More recently, new communication techniques have been developed for transferring data over communication networks by way of network devices, such as routers, switches, etc. Many communication techniques, implemented by various systems and methods, have been developed. For example, circuit switching network systems and methods have been used for many years. In the recent years, with the size of data being transferred increasing dramatically, packet switching network systems are becoming more common. In some instances, circuit switching and packet switching networks are used together. In the past, circuit switching networks, which require the establishment of dedicated point-to-point connections, were used for transferring information. Circuit switching networks, partly due to its requirement for dedicated connections, sometimes lack flexibility to provide quality of service attributes that are required for data transferring. Depending upon applications, a packet-based network offers better flexibility. In a packet-based network, no dedicated point-to-point connection is required. Instead, each packet of a single message in a packet-based network contains a destination address and can be dynamically routed via different network path. Sometimes, a network transfers packet data in the format of frames. For example, Internet Protocol (“IP”) packets may be too large to transfer, and are thus sent as frames, each of the frames containing information related to transferring.
One of the common goals in most communication networks has been to improve quality of service. For example, quality of service includes speed, reliability, etc. To improve the quality of service, a variety of techniques have been developed, which include diagnostic tools. For circuit switching networks, a conventional loop-back technology is used to diagnose faults in networks. For packet-based networks, conventional techniques, such as “Ping”, have been used to monitor connectivity among nodes, but have often failed to monitor the quality of connectivity. As a result, conventional techniques as described above are often inadequate for fault detection and isolation in packet-based networks.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an improved system and method for diagnosing and isolating faults in packet-based networks.